Update (5:00 AM - I really need to go to bed!!): Gamefreak director Junichi Masuda has also announced the new game(s) on his blog, linking to the official announcement below. He says that the game(s) are in development right now and that the work is secret. Obviously, whatever they’re working on will be the next main titles in the Pokemon franchise.

The moment we’ve all been waiting for! The official Japanese Pokemon website has announced that a new Pokemon RPG will be released for the DS by the end of the year and that it will for sure feature brand new Pokemon. It’s the “first new work” since Diamond and Pearl as the announcement states, meaning it will more than likely be a main game like Red, Gold, Pearl, etc. This will be the first time two generations of Pokemon have been released on the same handheld system, though technically, the first and second generations were both featured on Gameboy (despite one being in color). Bangiras has translated the announcement below:

An entirely new “Pocket Monsters” series is under development for release in 2010.

The Pokemon Company (headed by Tsunekazu Ishihara) has announced that the newest work in the Pocket Monsters RPG series (Game Freak, Nintendo) is being developed for the Nintendo DS for release by the end of 2010.

Since its first entry, “Pocket Monsters Red and Green” from 1996, the “Pocket Monsters” series has received high acclaim from customers around the world for its distinctive universe and gameplay that involves communicating between different versions to trade and battle. Sales for the entire series have climbed to over 130,000,000 copies worldwide.

The “Pocket Monsters” series for the Nintendo DS made use of the dual screen, touch screen, and Wi-Fi connection for play. The latest project under development is a completely new work, coming four years after “Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl” which boasts worldwide sales of over 17,150,000 copies (over 5,800,000 in Japan). It should make an innovative, fresh start by adding even more new game play elements and new Pokemon.

Please anticipate a later article with news about the game’s content.

As posted earlier, the February 15th issue of CoroCoro is supposed to have a “surprising” announcement related to the 13th Pokemon movie, The Ruler of Illusion: Z. Could it be the revealing of a new 5th generation Pokemon? We’ll find out soon!